Barcos sighed and stored the bottle of alcohol away as he heard the Captain announce there were boarders on the deck. He unstrapped himself and loosened his shoulders as he opened the hatch and stepped out. He avoided the blade aimed for his throat and left a dagger in the man’s throat in return.

He wasn’t surprised someone had been waiting to attack the only entrance to the top deck.

He heard one of the boarders hiss, “who let you out of your hole, Blademaster?”

“Does it matter?” Barcos replied.

“No, you’re as good as dead anyway.”

All ten men rushed Barcos as he danced between them, whistling softly as his blades carved through his opponents with ease.

The dirge of defiance was one of his favorite songs from his Bladesinger class and he hadn’t had a reason to use it in far too long. He cut through the riff-raff sent against him. They weren’t true opponents, only meant to weaken him for the rest. The pirates had sent forty people aboard the Retribution. Some were trying to damage the guns but were finding it extremely difficult. A few others were setting charges on the deck. Not ideal but he would deal with it.

He flicked out five daggers faster than the eye could see and the men placing the charges all fell to the ground, dead.

Three men rushed him and Barcos could tell, these three were skilled, not as skilled as him but few could match his talent with a blade.

The four of them clashed as other men rushed to continue setting the charges and a few tried to pry the hatch open and get inside.

That was when the ship violently lurched into the air. Air that had grown quite a bit hotter he noted. Barcos had seen the approaching elementals out of the corner of his eye but hadn’t thought the Captain would antagonize them. The man was nothing if not entertaining. Barcos laughed as half the pirates were thrown to the ground. A few even fell overboard into the superheated column of rock. Only four people didn’t falter, Barcos and his three opponents.

Using a tiny opening, Barcos threw out three more daggers, killing three more pirates before they could get up. They weren’t the three he was currently engaged with, he wanted to savor this fight.

His random killing did anger one of the three, forcing him to push even harder. Barcos just sighed and slipped a dagger into the man’s heart as he was leaving all kinds of openings in his zeal to end the fight faster.

The other two fought on but without the third, they couldn’t keep Barcos from occasionally throwing out daggers and killing more of the pirates aboard. The count was now down to about fifteen.

Barcos heard a scream behind him as the hatch opened and his Captain stepped out onto the deck. The noise didn’t distract Barcos or his two opponents though.

***

I quickly surveyed the scene on deck. It was one thing to watch it from the command room. The three men that had been trying to wrench the hatch open were thrown away when I unlocked it. Two people were fighting tooth and nail with Barcos and another ten pirates were trying to attach something to the deck in a few spots.

I shot an overcharged Frostwave at the three near the door, freezing them solid as I rushed past Barcos and toward the closest group of pirates. I couldn’t risk setting off whatever device they were using so ranged magic was not an option.

All but one of the men stopped what they were doing and drew weapons to attack.

I smashed into the group, utilizing Unstoppable Force to absorb the initial damage. This was enough surprise for me to crack one man across the skull with my staff as I ducked under a spear thrust. I felt a sword skitter across my shoulder, barely missing my neck. The slash wasn’t deep, thanks to my armor but blood still flowed from my wound.

I snapped my staff back, catching the swordsman in the chest with the lionhead. The force blasted him across the deck and into another group, sending all of them crashing to the ground.

I twisted to avoid another stab of the spearman, as I kicked out, knocking his spear to the side and unbalancing him. Barcos had been fond of using that attack against me in our fights. It was highly effective against long-handled weapon users.

As the man was unbalanced, I continued my spin and ducked inside his reach, shoulder checking him. The man crashed to the ground, knocking the man that remained at the device over as well. I didn’t give either a chance to scrabble to their feet as I lunged in, smashing their skulls with my staff.

When I looked up again, Barcos already had a bottle in hand and the remaining men were dead.

“Well, you didn’t die, I guess that’s something,” Barcos snorted, as he headed back below deck.

The cleanup took longer than the fighting. And the skills I managed to steal were as useless as the ones I got in the market fight or the previous pirate encounter. I sighed and cast them to the void to see if I got anything worthwhile in exchange.

Tempest Ball: Creates a ball of chaotic swirling water that is .5 meters wide and an additional .5 meters is added for every 5 points of Intelligence above ten. Once targeted the ball will fly toward its target lashing them with violent eddies of water, causing minor damage, and limiting motion. Lasts for 30sec. Cost 100 mana, cooldown 5 min

The spell sounded interesting but I had no clue what minor damage meant. All of my other spells gave stat-based damage. I would have to play with it and find out.

The other spell I got was just called Glob. There was no description, no cost, and no way to actually activate the ability as the relevant knowledge was not added to my mind when I received it.

It was a bit frustrating but nothing I could do about it at the moment. I decided to hold onto it simply to cast it into Void Lottery again when I got another skill I didn’t want.

After I finished looting the pirate bodies, I pushed them overboard. The remains of the enemy ship had landed on the island and the surviving pirates had been beset by the lava elementals. It was safe to say that I wasn’t going down there to pick through any remains. We waited for the shield to recharge and made our way back toward the hideout. I was now more confident in our chances at taking out the two ships. And I had an idea that may keep us from having to do much fighting at all.

***

“You sure about this, Captain?” Khikall asked for the second time.

“Yup, we're here to kill pirates, loot is only a secondary concern.”

The Jerboa grumbled quietly but maneuvered the ship above the hidden crevice the pirates were using. I started firing the mana lasers to create a fracture point for the ceiling of the cavern. I had to keep switching between the weapon batteries to not overload them. It took an hour but we now had a line carved about a foot deep across the entire surface above the cave, forming a crescent. I was glad the weapons were silent otherwise someone may have come looking to see what the racket was about. All other noises and shaking were covered by the continuously erupting volcano in the distance.

“Alright, set the ship down as we discussed,” I said to Khikall.

He did as was ordered and the Retribution touched down near the edge of the overhang.

“On three, give the ship full power,” I said, utilizing Newton’s third law to our advantage.

The ship rocketed into the air but to do that it had to push against something. Most of the time, this force was spread out over a wide area, making it imperceptible. But I had the ability to adjust this zone and that’s just what I did. It was like a hundred-ton hammer had slammed into the rock shelf. Normally it would just have shaken but with my weakening of the structure, a massive crack sped along the groove. With an Earth-shattering crack, the entire shelf collapsed at an angle, slamming into the cave floor below and sliding off into the ocean.

The only thing left behind were a few mangled buildings and some very confused pirates. Both enemy ships had been crushed and dragged away as the slab of rock fell.

I used the weapons on the ship to take care of any remaining pirates, not seeing any point going down there to fight them. My method did pose one issue, how to prove we killed these pirates. It wasn’t like you could share kill messages.

Eventually, I let Khikall set the ship down amongst the rubble to see if we could recover anything of value. Khikall looked glumly at the destruction. You think a man who had just hit level twenty would be happier. But I was starting to think my suspicions about the Jerboa were accurate. Only a former pirate would lament lost loot. I decided it was time to find out.

“Khikall, are you a pirate?”

“No,” the old Jerboa answered.

I sighed and rephrased the question. “Were you a pirate?”

This time Khikall paused before answering, “yes.”

“A well-known pirate by my guess?”

The man sighed and cleared off the remains of a seat before plopping down in it. “You might as well sit, this is a long story.”

I found a crate and dragged it over.

“I didn’t start out as a pirate. Before adolescence, I worked aboard a number of merchant ships. This is typical for my race. On one voyage, a pirate steamer surprised us and the crew failed to fight off the pirates. These were a mixed-race group of pirates, and none too kind. They killed the civilians and gave the surviving crew an option. Join them or be tossed overboard. This was before the Guild arrived at our shores and brought their slave devices with them.”

“Wait, why didn’t the pirates just purchase them through the Bazaars?”

“I will get to that. The pirates mistreated most of the crew that joined up. Only those that showed promise weren’t beaten…as severely. After a year aboard, the captain was betrayed by his first mate. A bloodbath ensued and only five people survived. The first mate and four Jerboa. The ship was destroyed during the chaos but we were within one of the pirate sanctuaries, hidden among the Isles. We joined another crew but they soon found out about the former first mate's betrayal and he was tossed overboard.”

“Sounds like he got what he deserved,” I muttered.

“Indeed. We got passed around from ship to ship for some time, seeing as we were slaves in all but name. Eventually, I grew skilled enough to challenge the Captain of a ship called the Forsooth. The man scoffed at my audacity and accepted my challenge.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well for him?”

“No, the man was a coward and trickster but I had watched him fight for years. The fight was bloody but it was over in less than a minute and I stood as the victor and new Captain. By this time the crew was a third Jerboa and with a nod of my head, we excised the non-Jerboa from the roster. From there, I recruited a new crew and we only raided Protectorate ships. We only killed when we had to and for two decades, life was good.”

“Let me guess, you were betrayed?”

“No, I found a wife and started a family. I stopped pirating and switched to hauling cargo. The change was quite easy and only a few of the crew left for more lucrative ventures. Being all Jerboa, they understood the importance of family. Then the Guild came, by this time my son was ten or eleven. We tried to compete with them but their prices on shipping were simply too low and I was once again forced to take up piracy to make a living. It wasn’t until years later that I was betrayed. I managed to escape but not before losing my son and wife.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know,” I replied.

Khikall shrugged, “how could you. That betrayal was six years ago, and I ended up stuck in Posa after being rescued. Nobody knew my name and I stayed anonymous for years until more Jerboa showed up. By then my bounty had expired as I was declared dead since a new captain was in charge of my old ship and I hadn’t been seen for some time. But Jerboas never forget a grudge, and soon it was known where I was hiding. To rub it in my face, the new captain of the Forsooth started prowling around near Posa, and butchering the people aboard ships they captured.”

“Well, that’s fucked up. I can see why you want revenge now. But you said something about the Bazaars?”

“Right, before the Guild, the Bazaars weren’t in the Isles. They can pop up and disappear on occasion. From what I understand, it has to do with trade and the volume of people in a given area. If the town is stagnant for too long the building simply vanishes. When the Guild arrived, they came in droves. Tens of millions of new residents and at least five new cities within the Isles. More people arrived to take advantage of the trade and ever since, the pirate threat has exploded, with outside forces coming in to try and dominate the new resources. These would be the pirate kings. And with this influx, the three Bazaars appeared.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all this before, not the thing about the Bazaars, but about being a pirate?”

“Would you have taken me on board if I had?” he asked in return.

“Fair point, no, probably not. But so far you are a good crew member.”

“Yes, but now you will always wonder if I am going to betray you.”

I laughed, “I assumed you would betray me at some point even before I knew you were a pirate.”

That got a chuckle out of the old Jerboa. “A wise decision. We should probably finish looting and get out of here before someone comes snooping around.”

“Fair enough, by the way, what’s Barcos’s story?”

“You will have to ask him, it's not for me to tell.”

I nodded as we moved apart to loot faster.

One good thing did come from our search. One of the ship’s flags lay amongst the rubble, still attached to its mast. So at least we could prove we took down one of the pirates. Now if only the pirate captain of the larger vessel come aboard during the fighting we could have had two. But alas that pirate had gone down with his ship.

We also looted the bodies as there were a lot of them. I split the loot three ways, giving the others first pick since I didn’t particularly care as it would all be sold to finance this private little war. After the spoils were divvied up, we left the remains of the pirate compound behind. I didn’t bother hiding our traces as too many people already knew we were headed here anyway, let this be a lesson to other pirates on what I would do.